Broken
by Chaimera
Summary: One-shot. What do you do when you return to find your world broken?


**Disclaimer: I own nothing contained in following fan fiction. Please don't sue me.**

**Hello there. This is my first Spirited Away fic so please be kind. One-shot short.I'm testing the waters with this. Here you go.**

**Broken **

**By Chaimera**

Chihiro blinked as she stepped out of the tunnel the sun was shining and the sky was a clear blue just like it had been eleven years ago when she had stepped out of the very same tunnel clinging to her mothers arm. As she walked she could hear her own cries echoing across the sea of green flowing grass. She smiled as she recalled how frightened she had been. And for what?

A bath house for the gods?

An old woman whose bark was most definitely worse than her bite?

A lost spirit who occasionally liked to eat people?

Nothing to be scared of really.

Chihiro had changed a lot in the last eleven years. Physically she was obviously much taller and she had filled out in all the right places though her face had lost the puppy fat it previously held. Her unruly hair had pretty much stayed the same and it blew about her face in the soft breeze, her dark eyes sparkling. Her hand went up to finger the hair tie which Zeniba, Kaonashi and Boh had made for her. It had survived all these years with her and she knew it had protected her. It wasn't even frayed and it shone in the summer sunlight.

She clambered over the river stones, smiling as she did so. Anything to do with a river, naturally, reminded her of Kohaku River. Her Haku. When she was younger she had harboured resentment towards him because of the promise. The promise that they would one day meet again. She thought that he had broken this promise, but slowly she came to realise that he never really specified anything. When they would see each other again, who would seek out who. She realised that she would just have to sit back and wait. She had tried to be in a normal relationship with a mortal, human boy, but it had never went well. Not only was she atrocious when it came to her source of men but a certain pair of jade eyes refused to leave her mind.

Chihiro came to the top of the steps and froze. Things were different. The place no longer looked as if it was inhabited. As she walked down the street she took in all the restaurants. The screens were broken and rotted. She came to the restaurant where her parents had been transformed into pigs. The kitchen was dilapidated. It was as if no one had been there for years. She took the same route that she had taken before. The street signs were in disrepair, windows were smashed and dusty but the streets were exactly the same. Deserted and lifeless. She made her way up the final set of steps to the great lamp and turned towards the bath house. She gasped at what lay before her. The bridge was faded and damaged and it creaked under her weight as she crossed. She leaned over to be faced with all that water. She moved on quickly. The chimney no longer poured forth the black smoke of the boiler. The main doors were open and one was just barely on its hinges.

As Chihiro walked through the main floor she peered into all of the bath rooms. The baths were chipped and cracked and extremely dirty. She nearly laughed to think of Yubaba's reaction had she been here. She climbed up on to the edge of the big tub and grimaced. The smell emanating from the tub was almost as foul as the smell from that poor polluted river god. She made to get down but slipped once again. She got up rubbing her head and muttering curses that she did not know eleven years ago. She travelled further into the structure, pausing at the fore-man desk. She peeked over the edge and saw the stash of herbal soap tokens strewn across the desk and floor. She grabbed one and traced the design in it as she headed for the elevator. She got in and pulled the lever. She was surprised when, though not without protest, the lift began to move upwards. Chihiro shifted nervously as the wood creaked around her. She saw glimpses of the other floors as she moved up but unlike the last time she was there, she saw nothing but broken furniture and dusty rooms. The lift came to a jerky stop and opened onto Yubaba's private floor. The screens that had previously only held silhouettes were now ripped and torn. The door which held the witches face on the knocker was open and Chihiro entered expecting to hear the old woman's angry voice or the thump and "oy, oy, oy" of the green heads, that really reminded her of dogs. But she heard nothing. She came to Yubaba's office and wandered over to her desk. There were still jewels piled on scales with an eye glass placed next to them, bags of gold, contracts yet to be signed.

Chihiro sighed and went out on to the balcony. She gazed over at the pig pens and up into the sky, wishing to see the dragon form of Haku, snaking across the sky, returning to her.

"I wonder what happened?" She said softly to no one in particular. She entered Boh's room. The pillows and soft toys were moth eaten and the ceiling was jammed between night and day. She shook her head and made her way back down stairs.

She made her way carefully up rotten stairs to where she and Lin had their quarters. There were still bed rolls littering the floor and uniforms were still piled in the cupboard. She opened the screen door which, she noted, was still jammed. She sat on the balcony and stared down at the water and watched as the train surged by. It appeared that it no longer stopped here. She watched it as it disappeared into the distance and Lin's voice echoed in her mind.

"_Someday, I'm gonna get on that train."_

"I need to get out of here." She muttered to herself. Chihiro was about to leave but there was one more place that she felt she had to go. She grunted as she forced open the small door that led to the boiler room from the kitchens. It was quiet and dark down there, but Chihiro could still feel the almost oppressive warmth of the room. The giant boiler was silent and the herb draws were all still full, some pulled out, some smashed, their contents spilling out onto the floor. One black token hung above Kamaji's post and a dirty bowl was put out for Lin to collect.

Chihiro smiled sadly as she recalled the old man telling Lin that he was her grandfather and yet, in the time she spent at the bath house, she had come to see him that way. Six arms and all. She looked at the floor and noticed that it was spotted with patched of soot. Where the sootlings had been when the spell wore off she supposed. She stuck her head out the back door and eyed the stairs cautiously. The steps that had been unsteady when she had made her way, screaming, down them, certainly didn't look trust worthy now.

Chihiro crossed over the bridge once more as the light began to fade, but the lamps did not begin to light and when she got to the river all she found were rocks. She suddenly turned back and headed for the bath house. She had no reason to go back to the human world. Her parents were dead. She had no friends so to speak, no job. No reason to be there at all. The wood creaked once again as she walked to the centre of the bridge. She leaned over and saw the lights of another train, speeding by in the darkness. She placed a foot on the railing and pushed herself up so that she was standing on the top most railing of the bridge. She smiled. She was finally returning to where she belonged, to the spirit world.

Chihiro felt the cold wind rush by her and braced herself for death, but it never came. She felt something catch her and clung on as they soared up. She felt scales and fur under her hands and opened her eyes.

"Haku?" She grabbed his horns as they descended. They landed at the end of the bridge and Chihiro dismounted as Haku returned to human form. She was about to speak but Haku pulled her into a rough embrace, kissing the side of her head.

"Why did you do that Chihiro? Why?" He pulled back and shook her shoulders.

"I don't know. I thought…"

"You thought what? I nearly lost you." He pulled her into his arms again. "Don't you understand Chihiro? If you had killed yourself, I would never have been able to see you ever again."

Chihiro laid her head on his shoulder and began to cry. "Why are you crying? Chihiro tell me what's wrong. Why did you jump of the bridge?"

She looked at him and smiled. "Your real."

Haku frowned at her. "What do you mean I'm…. Oh. Chihiro. Did you really think you could have made all that up? Lin, Kamaji, Kaonashi, me?"

Chihiro shook her head. "I don't know. I just saw all of that," She gestured to the bath house. "and I began to think that maybe none of it really happened or that you were all dead. Chihiro no baka."

Haku smiled and touched his forehead to hers. "Don't be stupid." And he kissed her. Chihiro smiled under his lips. He pulled away and led her to the gardens where they had sat before. Where Haku had given her back her name.

"So, what happened? I was inside. I was like everybody just disappeared."

Haku shrugged. "There was a change in management, lets leave it at that."

Chihiro nodded. "So what now?"

He smiled at her. "Now, I whisk you away to my home and we live happily ever after."

"That is so corny. Really?"

"No. You do want to stay don't you?"

Chihiro smiled at his uncertainty. "Of course I do. I love you remember?"

Haku blushed slightly. "Yes, um, well, we could go see Lin and Kamaji if you like?" "That would be great."

"Oh and Chihiro?"

"Yeah?"

"You do know I love you too, right?"

"Baka. Of course."

End.

**Well? Should I clap myself on the back or should I jump off a bridge. **

**Love it or loath it, you'd better review it.**

**Slán.**


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